Raye
A girls’ name with no widely documented etymology — one syllable, given to 38 babies a year in England and Wales.
Raye by the numbers
In 2025, 38 babies in England and Wales were named Raye. In the US, 12 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
For the size of the two countries, it is given far more often in England and Wales than in the US.
Its American peak was 67 babies in 1956, so it is a 1950s name that has since fallen a long way.
What we can tell you about Raye
Not every name has a meaning to trace. Plenty are coined rather than inherited — invented outright, blended from two names, or respelled from an older one — and where we cannot find an etymology we can stand behind, we would rather say so than make one up. What follows comes from the birth records themselves.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Raye. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
Sounds like Raye
Names that are said the same way as Raye, however they are written. Sounding alike does not mean they share a history.
Names about as common as Raye
Nobody has voted for Raye yet
Vote for Raye and put it up against all the other baby names
Vote for Raye